By Philip Pullella
VATICANCITY -A Slovenian former nun has come ahead to accuse a Jesuit priest as soon as distinguished on the Vatican of sexual and psychological abuse, at the very least the fourth public accuser in a case that has shaken the worldwide spiritual order.
The Italian investigative newspaper Domani, which has been breaking floor on the story for the previous few months, on Monday printed an interview with the girl, who mentioned she was pressured into sexual acts by Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.
Rupnik, now 68, was non secular director of a neighborhood of nuns in his native Slovenia earlier than shifting to Rome 30 years in the past, the place he later got here to prominence as an artist when Pope John Paul II commissioned him to revamp a chapel within the Vatican between 1996-1999.
After that, he was known as on to brighten chapels world wide and in 2020 he led a Lenten non secular retreat for Pope Francis and prime Vatican officers.
Intercourse abuse accusations in opposition to him had been first reported in Italian media final November, main the Jesuit headquarters to acknowledge that he had been positioned underneath partial sanctions, together with a ban on listening to confessions and main non secular retreats, in 2019.
The Jesuit order has since revealed that the Vatican’s doctrinal division excommunicated Rupnik in 2020 however lifted that sanction inside a month after he repented. His whereabouts haven't been recognized publicly for months and he has not commented on the allegations. One accuser has mentioned she believes he abused at the very least 20 nuns.
Within the newest disclosure printed by Domani, the Slovenian girl who's now 58 mentioned that Rupnik satisfied her when she was a young person to hitch the neighborhood he had based, and started abusing her in earnest when she was 22.
He used what she known as psychological management over her to power her into sexual acts, and deployed “merciless psychological, emotional and non secular aggression” to “destroy” her, significantly after she refused to have three-way intercourse.
Repeated makes an attempt to succeed in Rupnik by his college for spiritual artwork in Rome haven't been profitable and he has not responded to messages left there.
A Jesuit official in Rome declined to reply to a Reuters’ request for touch upon the newest allegations, including that anybody who had details about Rupnik might attain out through a particular communications channel established final month.
There have been calls from inside the Jesuits for a overview of how the order and the Vatican have dealt with the allegations. The Vatican referred questions on Rupnik to the Jesuits.
Earlier this month Slovenia’s Jesuits mentioned they believed the allegations had been true and requested for forgiveness.
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